Will o the wisp

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Will-o'-the-Wisp is the most common English designation for a family of fairy-beings characterized by their fiery appearance and their tendency to lead nighttime wayfarers astray. The term wisp refers to a twist of straw, used as a torch. Other names for these apparitions include Hobby-Lantern, Jack-o'-Lantern, Jenny-Burnt-Tale, Kitty-Candlestick, Peg-a-Lantern, and many more.

Will O the Wisp, also known as ignis fatuus, are commonly found in English folklore and are thought to be lighted fairies that lead nighttime wanderers astray.

Will-o’-the-Wisps, also called “ignis fatuus,” Latin for “foolish fire”, are enchanting balls of greenish-blue floating lights observed over swamps and marshes at night. At a distance, they look identical to flickering lanterns. All over the world, since ancient times, people have struggled to rationalize with the origins of these mystery lights; thus, legends and myths appear in almost every ancient culture surrounding Will-o’-the-Wisps.

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Done for D&D's Monster Manual

A flame, which oft, they say, some evil Spirit attends, hovering and blazing with delusive light, misleads the amazed night-wanderer from his way to bogs and mires, and oft through pond or pool; there swallowed up and lost, from succour far.From Paradise Lost 9.631-642 Will O' The Wisp are a type of fairy or ghost described in the folklore of Great Britain and Ireland, though regional varieties exist in other cultures. They were believed to be evil spirits or "impure" souls that haunted…

It was a cold, dark night as they crossed the moors on All Hallows' Eve. The folk at the village had said not to venture off the beaten path ... but it was too late now. "Look!" cried

One of my favourite faeries to use in my writing – sometimes just popping up in a story without forethought! – is the will-o’-the-wisp. Folklore Most faeries with fiery appearances and a tendency t…